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[MonkeyKungFu]

Yeah the GeForce 4 Ti 4200 / 4400 / 4600 were the last good cards released by NVidia.  Then they started with that GeForce FX crap.  I've got the GeForce 4 Ti4400  and it's still going strong with FarCry.  I play with mostly max settings at 1024x768 and dont get any real hiccups (No AA, No VSync).

Try to grab the 4600 if you can -- it was the flagship GeForce4 at the time, and you may be able to find one used cheap.
 

[ElvisKungFu]

If you can find these Ti anywhere, the prices should be pretty reasonable, except the Ti4600 is probably still close to $200 for some reason.  The prices Tom's Hardware list back in 1992 were $199-$399 for the series.  

And, interestingly enough, the test setup they used in testing the Ti4200 card at Tom's Hardware is very close to your current setup.

They also do some CPU scaling which is really interesting.  They test the card with different processor speeds allowing you to see possible gains with different processors.

Also, Tom's Hardware mentions that this card may have the ability to be overclocked... so that would be interesting.

[ElvisKungFu]

If you're shopping online, let me recommend New Egg online store

I ordered parts from them for my computer and the shipping was ultra fast.  They have tons of reviewers comments so you can get a sense of any weird things.  The stuff I ordered from them has been top notch and the prices are good.

They do have a new retail Chaintech version of the Ti4200 128 mb card for like $79.00.  All of the other Ti cards, the 4400 and 4600 were mostly refurbished cards.

[ElvisKungFu]

As far as cases go, Tom's Hardware also did a story on about 15 different cases a few weeks back:  Case Review, June 7th

I have a Chieftec case, which I love!  


I don't know if it's still available though.  It's kind of heavy, but at the same time it's seriously sturdy.  It came with a 450-watt power supply.  It has a sweet setup, with tons of room for growth.  There are usb, firewire, mic, and earphone ports on the front of the box which make it very convenient for plugging in your gear.  Only problem I have with that is that my motherboard didn't have the correct connector, so I am still looking into that.  For now, I have to crawl around the back of the tower still to plug in my mic.  I guess I could get an audio extender cord from Radio Shack or something.  

 

[18Weapons]

yes, that is my current video card.  not only can I play bf1942 but I can also haxon my zaxxon with it so roflmaottyl nubcakes

[ElvisKungFu]

yeah, you tell 'em buddy

 

[18Weapons]

well here's the deal-i-o with the ti4200 . . . i bought a Chaintech one from Tiger Direct a while back and it said 4x or 8x compatible.  Did not happen.  Power supply woes maybe but it just was not happening.  So I'm still sticking with my Asus v7700 Geforce 2 GTS 64 mbs DDR.  It has been pretty awesome for me and I'm pretty sure it would play Far Cry about as good as a 16mb video card plays Half-Life.  I don't mind slumming it for a while at Far Cry just to keep you guys company.  

My options as you guys have mentioned are:
-Get a Geforce 4 ti4600 for my current PC. ~200
-Get a new MB & XP 2600+ & RAM & Case & new AGP 8x video card ~450ish
-Get Monkey's set up ~ $600

you guys are deffinitly helping me.  I have 2 hard drives in my current pc, extra cd roms, extra floppy drives so I think I could hook up a bare bones kit and be fine.  

Still in question: What is the best video card for the buck?  If I wanted AGP 8x, 256 DDR, and a Heatsink fan to keep nice and cool?

[ElvisKungFu]

well, if the Ti 4200 didn't work on your current Motherboard, then the Ti 4600 is probably out as well.

I did a lot of research on graphics cards...  There are only a few 256 mb DDR cards out there, but you won't see a big jump in performance from what I've seen.  At least not yet.  

I'm not sure why Monkey is skeptical on the GeForce FX series...  I went with the ATI Radeon 9800 pro, but only because I had a gift card to Best Buy and it was on sale.  It's a pretty killer card, but I have seen occasional complaints about the fan.  I've never had a problem, but I may get an add-on cooler to go on the card just for security sake.  You might be able to find a 9800 pro for around $200, then get a fan for it...  I can get a link for it from IceDragon here at work.  He said it would be $20 at the most.

If you go for an ATI Radeon 9600, I'd go for the XT version, as it has solid benchmark tests.  



 

[MonkeyKungFu]

Lets play! Woooooo.  I love bang/buck stuff.  So I'm gonna try to do this right.

We'll start with a chart grabbed from this fine article which Toms Hardware put together at the end of 2003.



Now, this is a bit out dated.  For example the new 6800 series from NVidia and the X800 series from ATI both rock everything on this chart -- and they cost about a years wages for the average iraqi.  But the chart contains everything we're interested in.  

I want to focus on the middle section; thats where most of the best deals will be found.  (80% of the performance / 50% of the cost.  You know the drill.)

 Now, starting with the GeForce FX 5700, there's one at newegg for $139 that gets alot of very good reviews.  You'll like this one Wpns, cause it has 2 cooling fans and looks all pretty.

Theres also a fairly well reviewed ATI Radeon 9600XT at newegg for $159, which makes sense since your getting slightly better performance from that card (at least in this specfic benchmark).

Now these are both reasonably priced, and deliver good performance.  (I'd just like to note that my Ti 4400 is on that chart, and even though it's a 4th generation card, and getting long in the tooth, its still only 21FPS slower (about 16%) than the GeForce FX5700, which occupies a similar rank in its 5th generation family.  Thats what I'm saying about the FX cards, Elvis.  NVidia dropped the ball.  Not that ATI is much better, mind you -- they merely caught up.)

At the upper end, you dont see alot of the FX 5800 series, and a FX5900 series GeForce or a Radeon 9800 series will cost you about $100 more than the cards mentioned above.  So it seems like the 5700 / 9600 is the right mark.  Make sure you get the 5700 or the 5700 Ultra in GeForce, or the 9600 XT in ATI, since these are the better performers.

For me, I can only dream.

[ElvisKungFu]

 Now, starting with the GeForce FX 5700, there's one at newegg for $139 that gets alot of very good reviews.  You'll like this one Wpns, cause it has 2 cooling fans and looks all pretty.
 

Wooo!  gg

*FYI, if you'd like to know what kind of fan I went for on the CPU, it's a Thermaltake Volcano 11+ - Link here.  It's loud, but effective.

[ElvisKungFu]

* one of the feedback statements on the 5700 from NewEgg:

Fantastic card! I bought this to replace my Ti4200 128MB as it was flickering on a regular basis. It runs Max Payne 2 and UT2k4 on "Very High" and FarCry on "High"-which is a feat in itself.

It beats my buddy's ATI 9800 hands down.

sounds like a good deal to me buddy.

[18Weapons]

hmmm . . . very fascinating.  Thanks for the help boys.  Well I have a decision to make.  Soon enough I will be the proud owner of one of those three options.  After that, Far Cry will be mine for the taking.  

bind rocket_launch "mwheel_up"

[18Weapons]

ok so I decided to count my chicken before it was hatched by buying Far Cry last night.  I got playing it just fine.  I am glad I tried too because now I see how bad it is with that old Geforce2 GTS.  It lags to the point where it is almost unplayable when I have a good bit of people in a multiplayer game.  So I will be playing small multiplayer games (4-6 peeps) in the mean time or playing single player.  The environment is pretty freaking sweet though.  I am loving the little speed boats.  I can see myself riding around in the water a lot.  Until I get hooked up with my new system I can see myself dieing a lot too.  So I will be running the distraction game while you guys with the better setups can take out the 1337.SniperZ on the haxor camping grounds.  gg.